You Promise?
by cagedxsongxbird
Summary: A story inspired by the anime Romeo X Juliet.
1. Preface

_**Well... hello! This is the second story I've started. My first one is called "From Here the Clouds are the Same". It's an Escaflowne fanfiction, and I am very fond of it. I will be working on it at the same time I am working on this one, so if you like Escaflowne... please go read! I got the idea for this story while listening to "The Promised Land" from Final Fantasy VII, and FFVII Advent Children. It is the song I imagined to play in the background while the whole preface scene is taking place. If you have it... please listen to it while reading... it gives a nice effect! I love music... it is cool and beautiful. But... I will make this a full-fledged story with long chapters and such, so please don't base it off of the preface... even though it is a little... scary. It will be a good story. I'm excited! I love the anime, so I wanted to write a fanfiction... and I couldn't wait until I got to see the rest of the anime. So, I take liberty with the plot. ALOT of liberty. Please enjoy! Thanks!**_

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_Preface_

The drum roll beat out across the vast sea of heads in the main square of Neo Verona. The victim's were crouched on the dais raised far above the people, their hands tied mercilessly behind their backs. The people of Neo Verona gasped and cried; little girls wiping their eyes with their tiny hands, the older girls sobbing uncontrollably. The mothers tried their best to console their children, while the men and sons wondered at how they should feel. Half outraged and half agreed?

Duke Montague was nowhere to be found on this horrific day.

Hermione sat up beyond the dais, the arms of Mercutio wrapped around her in solace and comfort. But it would not help the tears and lack of breathing that had seemed to find her on this day.

The executioners approached the victim's with their betraying masks hiding their faces. The axes gleamed in their black gloved hands.

Conrad rasped hoarsely, his voice gone from the amount of crying he had gone through in the last day. He struggled tiredly through the wall of people. "FRANCISCO!!! CURIO!!! SAVE HER! SAVE LADY JULIET!" His efforts were fruitless. He glanced around him with tear-stained eyes to notice that Francisco had given up trying to get to Juliet and was instead trying to steady the anger of Curio.

"IT'S TOO LATE!!! DON'T KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE!" Francisco cried.

"THEIR IN MY WAY!!! WE HAVE TO SAVE HER!!!" Curio was ruthless. A little girl fell to the ground, crying from her scrape.

Benvolio was watching the dais with his mouth gaping open in horror. Never would he expect Duke Montague to do something so rash, so horrible. Cordelia clung to him, screaming over and over the name of the girl she loved, the girl she would die for.

"SAVE HER!!! SAVE JULIET!" She cried. Benvolio could not answer. His shock was too immense.

On the dais, Juliet Fiamatta Asto Capulet was calm and serene, her face have obscured by a fat, ugly bruise. Her hair was cut raggedly, the prize she had owned happily for most of her life was destroyed. Her wrists were cut slightly, and the bandages badly needed to be changed. But she looked anything but distraught. She looked like a queen, even in her rough and bloody splendor. She stared patiently across at her only comfort.

He sat there, covered in much worse than she. He had been beaten severely when he had tried to save her from their malice. Dried blood caked the left side of his face, and both eyes were black and bruised. He wasn't recognizable, but she knew him in her heart. He was her Romeo, her love. This was their punishment. The Duke Montague had ordered the execution of his own son.

Romeo tried to smile at her, his eyes welling up with tears as the time slowed. "I'm so sorry, Juliet."

Juliet shook her head painfully. "No. I love you, Romeo." She nodded at him, feeling another wave of calm wash over her. He nodded back, and repeated his vows with his eyes.

"In life and in death…" she choked out, finally smiling at his hopeful expression.

"I love you." The words fell over her like the rain of Escalus. It was a blessing. The drum rolls stopped, and so did all of the sound of the world. She only heard his breathing, then the whoosh of the axe, then the sound of bliss. Finally, they could be together.

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**_Me again! Just popping in to say, I hope you liked it and will continue to read it! It will get better... I promise! ... but... if you can, please review! It would make me so happy! Um... well... please regard me kindly! And thank-you. Long live the Iris... and her love..._**


	2. Selfish Hiding

**Okay. Let it be known that I must be tar and feathered, hung on the gallows until I am blue, and stabbed over and over with a sharp sword fish for not updating as soon as I should. It really, really sucks, don't you think? I'm very very very very very very very very sorry... But I'm in college, and its hard to write while I am here. The only reason I was able to today is because my boyfriend just broke up with me and I needed an outlet to write so I shoved everything aside to write out my aggravation and despair. But I am a bad person for not updating much sooner, so I shall try harder in the future. I am low... low low low... Very sorry. Please enjoy this chapter however. I hope you like it. And I hope your lives are all happy and grand! Lets be friends. My name is Brittany Jones so you can facebook me, even though there are tons of girls named Brittany Jones. I also have an RP account for Namine Undine, and Juliet Capulet Iris... and soon I shall have Hayner, so you can befriend me there too. I also have aim, cagedxsongxbird is my screen name. You don't have to talk to me, but I like friends... laughs hard Sorry! I really hope noone hates me too much for not updating sooner. But life eats me... so... yeah... thanks for reading! Enjoy this thoroughly!**

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Chapter One: Selfish Hiding 

The morning was silent, quiet as the graveyards one might seek solace in when life does not go as originally planned. Somewhere across the vast sky, a bird called, perhaps to frighten away the loneliness that gripped the land. And where was hope? Dead and buried, long gone.

If you happened to leave the graveyard through the back, and walk for a ways, taking the northern road, following it as long as your tired and weary feet could allow, you might be able to come to some sort of comfort. That is, after the road you'd need to follow the curve of the mountain, going up the side when the tip of the mountain meets the sun at noon. If you continued that way, perhaps you could pause on a ledge of the mountain and look down into the bowels of the sick and wounded creature called NeoVerona, and hear the ill cries and weeping's of its people. But where you are going, there is no sound of weeping and crying to reach your ears. Where you are going is a sanctuary away from pain.

If you continued up the mountain side, the trees would become denser, and the world dark and moist, the air steamy yet cold to breathe in. You would wrap tighter in your cloak and continue on your way. You'd eventually find traces of rubble, from ruins of long ago. Eventually you would even come upon an old stone church, in mostly ruins, but with enough sturdiness to last forever.

If you looked at the church, which looks more like a temple, you would find angel sculptures hanging on the edge of the eaves, and sitting perched on the roof with their sullen eyes mourning the sky. They watch as the world corrodes them, helpless. Somewhere in the near distance you can hear the lovely music of a waterfall cascading onto singing rocks.

But, of course, who would know how to get there but the two who found this place and called it their own?

.x.X.x.

The temple stared out of the gloomy darkness of the trees into the face of the sky. One angel statue seemed to whisper despair as one of its wings had eroded clean off, the rubble of feathers strewn across the forested floor. A wild Dragon-horse called out above the trees as he sailed through the sky, and the waterfall gurgled its singing reply. The trees rustled their leaves in the hushing wind.

A boy walked by the entrance of the temple, his steps slow and deliberate. He was searching for someone, and he hoped he knew just where to find her. As the only living, breathing, human soul in the area, it was strange for him to even consider being here at all. He didn't fit in with the wild terrain, with the vines creeping up the sides of the temples, eating away at the stone. He didn't fit with the large patch of irises blooming near the falls. Still, he walked forward, his steps heavy.

He entered into the church, smiling as a patch of sunlight fell onto him through a large gap in the roof. His footsteps echoed against the floor, resounding with the sound of water. He walked to the back of the temple, stopping to gaze up at the angel statue there, her wing span stretched across the entire width of the church.

The angel frowned down at him, stone tears on her face. Below her blessed feet, a gigantic chasm in the stone poured out miles of water, the waterfall choosing to fall directly out of the cliff face. The entire back wall of the church was indeed a cliff, a dead end to the top of the mountain. It must have been considered a holy place, for the water rushed out of the side like a saintly wound, and filed into a deep pool that went on forever, endlessly a pool of dark water. The boy had attempted to discover just where all of the water went, and had not been successful.

Irises grew on the banks around the water, and occupied most of this part of the church, their petals and stems thirsting and longing for the moist nature of the majestic falls that fed them from below the angels feet. The boy sighed, his eyes caressing the body of the angel, his mind on matters of good and evil, on matters of love.

His dark hair whispered gently as a gust of wind blew it about his ears. He smiled, feeling a certain ease, guessing it came from the beloved angel suspended above him. He locked his deep, aqua eyes on hers, and bent down to pray.

"Escalus…" he began, his voice like a resounding church bell in the empty halls of the temple. The water rushed on, echoing together with his voice, spraying him lightly with misty droplets. He paused then, unsure of what to say to the god.

He turned quickly at the sound of footsteps behind him, his boots creaking on the old, stone and wood floor. His eyes lit up at the sight before him, and he sprung up quickly, his feet carrying him as fast as they would allow. Not knowing anything else in that moment, he slipped his arms around her waist, becoming like a vise, a collection of ropes that knotted themselves to never release her, the girl now fitted tightly against him.

His face found her hair, and he breathed into it, sucking the smell of her into his head, becoming dizzy with it. Irises, she smelled so sweetly of irises.

She giggled softly, her face alit with a flaming blush, certain he could not see it. "Romeo…" She sighed his name heavily, losing herself in his embrace.

He could wait no longer. He pulled ever so slightly away to look into her amazing topaz eyes, placing one finger under her chin to raise her face up to his. "Juliet." He sighed before telling his lips to meet hers. The kiss was soft, but urgent, full of emotion and desire. When he pulled back from her, she smiled at him in complete and utter bliss. The smile made such a well of emotion come up inside of him that he pulled her against his chest again, holding her there for what seemed like hours. But she was content.

"Romeo, I gathered berries." She mumbled against his chest, searching for something to speak about. He laughed softly.

"Thank-you, Juliet." He kissed the top of her head gently, and slipped his hand down underneath her legs, lifting her up into his arms. She laughed and blushed, and he carried her over to a church pew, sitting down with her there in his lap. "I missed you." He confessed, his hands now on her waist as he smiled into her eyes.

She nodded gently, her face a mess of pink color. His was no different. She sighed happily and leaned against him, resting her head against his chest, fitting it into the hollow of his neck as was natural. He rested his head against hers and began absentmindedly tracing a finger over her side, his other hand now entwining with her fingers. They sat like that for a while, the sun setting and causing complete darkness to fall into the church.

Juliet shifted slightly, her mind reaching an uncomfortable thought. She didn't want to approach it.

Romeo laughed lightly. "Getting uncomfortable, love?" He didn't wait for her response, but instead rose with her still in his arms and set her down gently on the ground. "I must light the lamps anyway."

She watched him as he walked outside the church, his body disappearing in the darkness. A slight fear ate away inside of her, but she pushed it down, knowing it was irrational as Romeo was there. Just because she didn't see him…

She sighed in relief, however, as she watched him, through the church pillars, light the first lamp. It flared to life, casting a safe, orange glow on everything surrounding it. She saw him move on to the other lamps, gradually setting life to the nightly creature they called home.

He came back to her, planting a soft kiss on her cheek. "Dinner time, I suppose. Where are those berries?"

Juliet smiled and slipped her arm around him, leading him to the back of the church and past the angel. As they both passed her, they smiled up at her, their faces full of reverence. The waterfall continued its musical fall. To the left of the waterfall was a small cave, hollowed out for the priests who had long ago commanded the church as a living place for them. It held three rooms, a kitchen being one of them, a bedroom another, and a study, the last. For Romeo and Juliet however, the third room was just a place to delight themselves in the boring hours of the day with no other human life but themselves. There were many records in the room, old scrolls describing worship to Escalus.

She went into the kitchen, Romeo stopping to lean on the doorframe. She bent to light a fire, the room a little chilly as it was made of stone and directly beside a cool waterfall. They could hear the roar of the water softly through the walls. She straightened up after having lit a decent flame, and pulled a pouch from her belt, emptying the berries onto an old stone tabletop. She turned with a smile to Romeo. "Dinner, my darling."

He laughed, then crossed the room, stopping to wrap his arms around her waist and give her a long, breath-stealing kiss. He gently brushed his fingertips against her forehead, wiping the hair out of her eyes. His breath caressed her face as he laughed out softly again.

"Love, do not worry yourself. I know what you are thinking. Everything will be alright. Escalus is on our side." He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the table with him. "Eat with me."

Juliet's eyes opened wide. There was no way to hide her feelings from Romeo.

"But… the people…" She frowned as she sat next to Romeo, watching him pop a berry into his mouth.

He sighed and looked at her, his expression full of sadness. "What can we do, when we are supposed to be dead?" He grabbed her hand, his smile meant to be comforting.

"I love you, Romeo." She shuddered softly, his love the only hope she had left.

.x.X.x.

Cordelia frowned into the bare and empty room, her eyes feeling puffy and itchy from days of crying. There was the bed, empty of its sheets that once gentled a sleeping form. There was the desk, its contents gone and thrown away, a single dead and dried up iris resting on its dusty top. The ribbon from the Red Whirlwind's hat lay abandoned and bruised in the corner, ripped apart from the attack Cordelia had discovered Antonio wreaking upon it in grief of the loss of his dear friend. But it was more than a dear friend they had lost. It was also the loss of hope.

They were moving away, back into the country to try and live better lives from the disgusting nature that had gripped NeoVerona in its tight, deathly grip. With no Capulet heir, they could no longer have any chance of stopping Lord Montague from his continual plague. Who could take over once he had been demolished?

They had thought that maybe Benvolio could, but he had denied any such plan. Benvolio did not want it, nor did he have the correct disposition or rule the land.

Conrad, in desperation, had gone to Tybalt, but had found him in such desolation and anger that it was of no use to speak with him of anything but drinking. Tybalt was on his own now. And he planned to kill Montague. But he would not take over. NeoVerona was corrupted beyond belief, the iris withered, the young rose murdered.

It was too much for Cordelia to take, peering into the place where she had raised her best friend and adopted younger sister. She had been killed for her name, and her lover been killed for siding with her. The Duke had killed his own son.

Cordelia covered her mouth and fell to the floor, trying to hold down the vomit and bile that threatened its way out of her throat. She cried once more, the tears hot and searing, sliding down her face to drip loudly onto the stone floor.

"Juliet…" She choked out, gripping her sides in pain. Outside, the people wailed in hunger and despair, their lives now a complete living hell.

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**So yes. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm not sure when the next one will be coming, but it will be coming. Someday. The only way it would not come is if I died. In which case... You'll have to use your imagination to finish the story! Hahahaha... anyway... Have a wonderful day! And don't let boys tell you that you cannot do anything, or that you are not strong enough. Because it really breaks your heart. sigh I'm not a cool person. Please review please! It makes me happy... and Please Regard me kindly... bye now! **


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